Tale of Two Swords

By:Jeffrey Spears

Introduction

The year is 1792 as the sun sets on the small town of Yamakav (Ya-ma-cave). A man is running through the town screaming for help, panicked by what is following behind him. The wolves that chase him are closing in on the weary traveler. Suddenly he trips on a stone protruding out of the ground on the cobblestone path through the town. The wolves slowly surround him encapsulating his fate.

Chapter 1

The wolves circled around teasing their prey. The leader of the pack, noticeable by the scar that ran across his eye. The leader of the pack had a nasty look, he howled at the others and they made a hole in the circle leading back to the woods. The traveler looked with puzzlement at the wolves when the one behind him growled and bite at the air at him. He realized they wanted to play with their next meal some more before they went in for the kill. Tired, the traveler got up and started running back towards the woods. The wolves followed suit. The traveler came to a tree that looked easy to climb and furiously grabbed at the branches that hung down just within reach. When he got high enough to escape the mouths of the hungry wolves that lie in wait below. It was cold that night, he kept thinking of his wife he had seen, just a day before, ripped from his life by the foul Marauders, a group of thugs that wanted him to pay for getting one of their members jailed. He could only imagine the horrible things they were doing, he didn't even care about the snowflakes falling in the winter night air. When he finally fell asleep the sun was slowly rising on the east horizon.

Chapter 2

When the traveler came to he was startled a little at first, he hadn't gotten a very good nights sleep, then the thoughts came like a tsunami flowing over him, he burst into tears. He gathered his emotions and looked below to find the wolves gone. He climbed down slowly and set out for the Yamakav, his shattered memories of the past repressed by his fear of the wolves coming back to finish what they started.

Chapter 3

When he got into town he went into the nearest pub, when he got in he went to the bar, a gloomy look cast over his face. The bartender waltzed up and asked, "What is the problem?". The traveler looked up but did not answer the man. The bartender started off with another question, "What's your name?". The traveler responded, "What's the point, if you know me they'll hunt you". Confused by his response the bartender, knowing something had happened to this man with the look of a body that had its soul sucked by a Mokaria

(Mo-care-ea), a bat-like creature that slowly feed off the souls of humans. Fixing up a drink, relatively strong as the bartender knew the weary looking man needed it. He asked, "Do you have any family?". The traveler simply smirked and replied, "I used to". "What happened to them, if ya don't mind me asking?" asked the Bartender. The smirk quickly left the man's face as a teared rolled down his cheek. "Ya know" ,started the traveler, "just yesterday I was running my hand through her beautiful, soft brown hair.", at this remark he let out a little whimper, "if I just hadn't said anything this would have never happened". It was this statement that the Bartender responded to, "Wait your Skavandar?!". He replied, "Seems like everyone knows about me".

Chapter 4

"You're the man who put that good-for-nothing Marauder away" exclaimed the Bartender. "At what cost. I put away one man and my wife is taken as collateral.", Skavandar pounded the table the tears rolled down his eyes and every other word he gasped for breath trying to tell his story. "Oh, I'm sorry I didn't know...", Skavandar stopped him halfway through, "It's fine, just please, let me think of how to get her back". Skavandar sat there, contemplating what he should do to extract his revenge on the bastards that took his life away. "You could try to join their ranks and get her out", offered the bartender. Skavandar looked at him for a second, "Neither would I have the time to do this or the abilities to join their ranks, I'm on their wanted list and I know they won't stop till I'm dead". The Bartender looked at him, "They're really that harsh as to murder your family and you for putting one of their members in jail, which they could easily get him out of?". "Well", saying this while looking around the bar to make sure that no one was around, "What people don't know is i didn't just jail one of their members, I took something they're looking for". He reached in his pack, slightly torn from the tree he had climbed earlier, and pulled out a small gem. It was clear, but the center had a black aura flowing inside of it. "What is it?", asked the Bartender. Skavandar, now with a hushed voice, replied, "Ever heard the tale of Daodica?" (Dow-di-ka).

Chapter 5

Long ago there was a women by the name of Daodica. She was born into a life of slavery. She worked for the Royal Family, they were the King and Queen of all of Rukidanid (Ru-kid-an-id). Tales had told of her ability to place spells on objects. When the King learned of her abilities he knew he could exploit her abilities to further his steel grip on the world ensuring his rule for eternity. She made five mystical objects, but when the King started to wish for immortality she refused. The King lashed out and demanded that she give him what he wanted unless she wanted her head on a platter. She knew she wouldn't be around much longer the way things were going. She hide them, scattered them around the world, hiding them from the power-mad King. One object, it was said, was a gem that would be the key to unlocking the treasures of the true beholder. There were clues, on the locations of the 5 objects. No one knows what the objects were, and no one knew where the trails started but many treasure hunters seeking to make a quick coin had searched for the trails before. Some of the trails beginnings had been found but had never been fully completed and the only people who knew where there knew where the trails were, but they kept journals of their findings. Skavandar knew he had to find the objects, but he had no names, and no idea what he was searching for. All he knew is he had to get his wife back. His journey has just begun.

Chapter 6

Skavandar finished his story as well as his ale, when a noise came from the streets outside. The Bartender grabbed Skavandar an pulled him into a back room, “Wait here, I don’t want to see a good man like you get hurt”. The Bartender shut the door and Skavandar could see through a tiny hole in the door. Three silhouettes strutted easily through the door to the pub. “I hear that Skavandar’s in town, what do you think of that keeper?” , the Bartender replied as calmly as he could, “Is that so, well I haven’t seen him ‘round here, if I do see anything suspicious I will let you know”. One of the silhouettes stepped forward, the biggest one of the group and grabbed the Bartender. “Now look here”, them man started off, “if you don’t tell us where he is we'll cut off every little finger off those hands you got”. The Bartender started tried to tell them that he didn’t know where Skavandar was, but he didn’t get very far. The big one stomped on the Bartenders foot and threw him onto the table. He took out his dagger and pointed it at his throat. “I grow tired of these games, someone reported a traveler that looked much like the wanted poster coming into this pub. Tell me where he is or I will cut you up slowly and make your suffering last.” , Skavandar couldn’t watch this unfold, he pulled out a knife and a sword. Kicking down the door Skavandar threw the knife, it hit the big one right between the eyes, the other two startled franticly tried to draw they swords but Skavandar was too quick. He reached them before they had drawn there weapons and cut them down. Skavandar locked the doors of the tavern and ran to the Bartender, “Are you alright”, Skavandar asked while helping him up, “Yea I’m fine but if you hadn’t done what you did I'd be sliced up on that table”. “Thanks for hiding me instead of giving me up. We need to get out of here, we have to find someone who knows about those books”. They started out the door when the overheard a group of people talking about a man who had gone into a coma out in the woods. They said he had a map and he came out of coma not to long ago. “I guess we should start there”, Skavandar said with a little smile, thinking of the evil things he would do to the people that took his wife when he got his hands on them.